The countdown's going molto veloce...

So as I write this I have 7 days, 17 hours, 18 minutes and 45 seconds to go until I leave New Zealand, well by the time I post this it will be more like 16 hours but yeah you get the idea.

I have this one line a day journal thing and when I wrote in it the other day I found that it was a year ago that day that AFS had come to speak to my school. My friend Lilly and I started getting really excited and spoke about it all lunch and morning tea that day. At that point it was more just us getting caught up in the excitement, not actually realising we may be able to go on an exchange. I mean so many people had come out of that assembly excited and reading through the brochures so it didn't seem like it would be us two out of all those people who would actually end up signing up - but hey look where we are now :O

My Italian is still coming along slooooooowly but today I finished Rosetta Stone!! YIPEEEE!!! The other day all of the kiwis going to Italy got an email saying none of us had finished and we would have to pay €50 unless we do before we arrive in Rome! That's about $100 NZ so I really wanted to finish and since I haven't been going to school much lately I had more time to do that, it wasn't too much once I actually sat down and did it. Also on the language side of things my brother walked past my room the other night and heard me sleep talking IN ITALIAN! When he told me the next day (via text because he also seemed to share my amazedness haha) I was so excited because even though it probably means nothing I like to take it to mean I'm learning more. I know that when I get to Italy I'm going to find it super hard to communicate no matter how much I practice but my writing and reading are improving which should help with the school or if anyone fancies a game of Italian boggle - which I'm sure happens a lot aye ;)

I still haven't properly started packing because I don't feel like it's close enough to be thinking about it even though it really is. I've thrown a few bits in my suitcase that are actually for the exchange, like presents and stuff but my suitcase still looks very sad and empty at the moment :( I think this is down to how I just still don't realise I'm actually going, well I do but I don't. Normally if I'm going overseas or anything really exciting is happening I get a really excited feeling and it's all I can think about but I'm just not getting that leading up to this which is so weird because it's the most exciting thing to ever happen in my whole life. It's not that I have the opposite feelings though; I'm not really feeling nervous or scared, or stressed - I'm just not feeling. My brain knows that I'm leaving but it hasn't actually hit ME yet, my brain still needs to tell me so yeah hopefully that happens soon. I don't think that even makes sense but that's how I feel like I still don't realise it's actually happening.

I'll do a post just before I leave on expectations because even though AFS goes on about how we shouldn't have them, I don't think anyone can say they don't have some. That's it for now, Ciao! :)

Language, Packing and Preparations

Everyone that I've spoken to who's come back, or is in Italy at the moment has said they regret not learning as much language before going so I'm trying really hard to learn as much Italian as I can. I've finally started to get on top of Rosetta Stone (or as much as I ever will haha). It's been very slow progress but now I'm over half way to finishing woohoo! I also got a phrase book CD today so I've been listening to that and practising replying "non capisco" to everything which will most likely be my reality in Italy. Non capisco, non capisco, non capisco. Capisce? No, non capisco.

Today I also got my suitcases for the flights, YAY! I can actually start getting stuff packed. I did a pretend pack and it was 1 kg under without a whole bunch of stuff so I think I'll need to cut out a heap of stuff before I go, but I can always buy most of it again there... I hope.

We leave in 24 days, 21 hours and 7 minutes so yeah it's getting pretty close. Today when we went shopping I had to tell my Mum to hold up on the muesli bars she was buying because I only have 15 days left at school and that made it really hit her how soon it was. It's little things like that which really enforce the fact that I'm going so soon. I'm so excited but I keep thinking I should be nervous and I'm not really, it just doesn't seem real!

Until next time, Ciao! :)

Preparing for the Adventure

In one month today I'll be leaving on the adventure of a lifetime. One. Month. One month. ONE MONTH!

Time has gone so fast it still doesn't seem real to be honest.

I started back at school after two weeks of school holidays last week and it's been really strange. Everyone is doing work towards their external exams but since I won't be here I'm doing well... nothing. In some classes I have to do the work but knowing that it's not counting towards anything is making my enthusiasm negative a milliontrillion. I have been able to do some Italian during classes though so that's helpful.

Before beginning this term I was imagining a relaxing 5 weeks before leaving where I would sleep, eat and daydream about my new Italian life. There's so many things to prepare which I hadn't thought about; visa forms, money, insurance, packing, student allowance, italian argh. I'm have a British passport so I don't actually need a visa which is great but I still need to take all of the forms with me. Then there's the money which after heaps of research I think I'm going to go with the Loaded for Travel card. In New Zealand we can also apply for a student allowance while on exchange so the government gives you money weekly to cover living expenses, this is only for the last two months for me because you have to be 18 to get it. Anyway I don't want to bore the few people who are reading this so if you want any info on any of that kind of stuff feel free to comment and I'll be happy to help. Once all of this stuff is sorted and out of the way the more exciting stuff will come like packing and then actually leaving! :D

Yesterday I went shopping to get stuff I needed for the trip like a new suitcase, shoes and other travel necessities that I didn't have. Doing things like that really makes it seem close and it is but it's also so far away. I just can't imagine myself being in Italy. Emily lives in New Zealand, not Italy. Emily will live in Italy, not New Zealand. omg.